Regional Reviews

RHODE ISLAND

Night Bodies: Photographs by Willa Mamet
AS220 Gallery • Providence, RI • www.as220.org

Willa Mamet, Untitled (Night Bodies series), silver gelatin print, 20 x 24". Copyright and courtesy of the artist.

This small exhibition of nine untitled, black-and-white figure studies carries the air of improvisation and experimentation as Willa Mamet portrays a nude female model, Marisa Peck, in various playful poses that range from the provocative to the surreal.

The more overt images, while technically intriguing, are less compelling than scenes that present ambiguity and abstraction. Arranged sequentially in the order in which they were made, the photographs offer a variety of settings and altered moods, from dreamy to ominous, whimsical to spiritual.

Mamet used a Leica M4-P camera, flashlights, a light kit, and even the headlights of a car to capture the images, and then developed traditionally the silver gelatin prints in the darkroom. In them, she explores the realm of shadow and light and the body’s elastic potential as subject matter. Some scenes suggest fantasy; others refer to the Victorian Eve-in-the-garden motif; while others hint at auras or the afterlife, showing the human form either trapped or evolving between dimensions.

The first three photographs in the series are among the most striking. One shows a multiple exposure of the model slumped over, with three copies of her prone, naked body sprawled across a staircase. The contrast between the soft forms and the hard edge of the steps creates drama and visual interest within the composition. The poignancy of the image is made more resonant by its metaphorical power, summoning the mythic vigor of Sleeping Beauties and fallen angels.

Equally intriguing is an image that presents the model’s abstracted form as a vertical line almost swallowed in darkness. Light from the headlights of a Mercedes catches part of the blurred figure, creating an elemental, enigmatic picture. In contrast, the next photo shows the model in a white room, partly disappearing into a blown-out limbo, suggesting transition and movement between worlds. While the scene is mostly ethereal, the sly detail of a wall socket—with a cable hook-up sticking out—grounds it.

Mamet, the daughter of playwright David Mamet, describes the series as a work-in-progress. The title conveys the work’s evocative, mysterious, and sensual nature. Bodies passing through the artificial light and shadows of night, she reminds us, are distinct from those that move through daylight.

—Doug Norris

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